Jack-o-lanterns and Frankensteins

This year I had been to the much awaited the NY Village Halloween Parade attended by 2 million with a whooping viewer-ship of 4 million. Halloween- The eve of All Hallows day/All Saints day as it is otherwise called, was a day that ruled every tv channel,every kid's goodie bag and made every one's sense of fun and creativity come alive.
On any other day the streets of Manhattan is energetic , buzzing with people and traffic, with time on the fly and people on the run, racing against time.People weave the streets with the ever changing walk signs and traffic is crazy.This was the first time I saw naked NY streets stripped of movement, uncharacteristically silent and deserted save a million or two bordering these streets waiting for the parade to begin.
People trickled from down the block amid flashes of light clicking away and music from elaborate floats.The theme this year was 'Wings of Desire'

with beautiful birds dancing with the music.



There were some creative costumes like the guy in the painting:




giant spiders crawling down towers and not so creative Elvises, M.Monroes,presidents and people in animal costumes.And of course the ghosts,witches ,bats swooping over our heads,vampires and mammoth skeletons lent an overall 'festive Halloween' feel to the parade.The best was some dead people dancing to Thriller by Michael Jackson.
This was one time that traffic on the road had slowed down and people behind masks were all set to make people smile or frighten them; all in the spirit of the event.
This event is listed in the book called 100 things to do before you die.Strike 1 for me. 99 more to go.